


Heart Breaker

by afangirlimagines



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - College/University, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Gay Keith (Voltron), Heartbreak, Keith/Rolo & Keith/Lotor are really brief, M/M, Pining, Pining Lance (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-17
Updated: 2018-11-11
Packaged: 2019-02-03 17:31:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12752922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afangirlimagines/pseuds/afangirlimagines
Summary: Keith's a certified Heart Breaker. If you end up with him, it's only a matter of time until he breaks up with you and moves on. Everyone knows that. Lance knows that.But then, why can't he get that boy out of his head?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this cause I was listening to How to be a Heartbreaker by Marina and the Diamonds on repeat lmao.

Keith was wandering through the rooms of the party he was at. Probably kooking for someone worth spending a night with. Maybe two. He didn’t care. Keith was well aware people talked shit about how quick he moved from guy to guy, but he didn’t care that people called him a heartbreaker. And for some reason, guys who knew still believed they could be the one to change him. But Keith was never a commitment-type of person. He just wanted to have fun. And break hearts.

Lance was one of those people. He knew it. Hunk knew it. Hell, even Pidge knew it, even though with one mention of any kind of a love life, they were out of the room pretending to gag. But he couldn’t help him. He couldn’t help watch Keith walking between crowds with a graceful skill that seemed so useless, but mesmerizing. Keith was hot. Everyone knew that. And God, Lance would never be the first person to deny that. But he knew he fell in love too easily. And that’s why he should say as far away from him as possible.

“Like what you see, hot shot?”

So how did he end up by Keith’s side?

Keith had an amused look on his face, as Lance stumbled over his words before being able to deny the allegations Keith laid before him. “No- no! I’m just shocked you already dumped Lotor. What, did you realize that he was hotter than you and couldn’t handle it?”

“Go keep him company then, dude.” Keith picked up a half empty bottle of vodka on the counter and poured a shot’s worth into his red plastic cup. Lance mentally rolled his eyes at just how cliché this frat party was turning out to be. But then again, he was supposed to be playing drinking games in the living room with Hunk and his friends. Why did he offer to get more alcohol for them? Oh yeah, cause he watched Keith’s ass walk right into here. Hunk was right – he does bring this onto himself.

“Give me that.” Lance reached over Keith to grab the bottle he just put down. Keith simply raised his eyebrows at him, before quickly downing his cup. Lance’s eyes locked onto his Adam’s apple. He blinked hard, before shaking his head, mentally and actually, to get the thoughts out of his too dirty mind. “I would if he wasn’t too depressed to get out of bed.”

“Do you have a problem with me? Who even are you?” Keith said in a biting tone. He was fully facing Lance, and this was the most attention Lance had gotten from him this whole time.

“Don’t you give a damn about the people you date?”

“Didn’t your mother teach you to mind your own damn business. I changed my mind. It happens. Couples break up all the time. Hell, people get divorced. At least I don’t waste time tricking myself into believing my feelings aren’t what they are. I’m honest with people, and if that’s too hard for them to deal with, then I’m not sorry. That’s not my fault.”

Keith pushed past Lance after that point, moving further into the crowd, falling into a conversation with someone else quickly, clearly not lingering on the conversation he had with the unknown Cuban boy he had just run into.

But Lance. Lance couldn’t stop running over something that Keith said. ‘At least I don’t waste time tricking myself into believing my feelings aren’t what they are.’ But Lance knew how he felt. He just knew it was wrong. It wasn’t the same thing. He was saving himself from getting hurt, whereas Keith was hurting people. It wasn’t the same.

Lance went back to the living room feeling a little bit more sober than when he left it.

-

The hardest part was honestly seeing Keith outside of the parties on campus. Seeing him when he was with someone was awful. He could watch his boyfriend fall more and more into love with him, and then see the moment Keith begins to get bored with it. When it’s no longer a game for him. He’s only witnessed Keith break up with someone one time before, before he had ever had the _lovely_ opportunity to speak to him at that party. And it was all because Keith fucking Kogane had to be an asshole and do it at the restaurant Lance was working at. And worse, when Lance was their waiter.

“Keith, how- how could you do this?”

“I just – I think I owe it to you to be honest. I just – I don’t feel it anymore.”

“But you said you loved me.”

“Well, I don’t know. I don’t anymore. I thought I did.”

“But I love you.”

“That doesn’t change my feelings.”

“Did I do something wrong?”

“No, it wasn’t you. My feelings just changed. I think it’s best we break up. I hope I still see you around.”

The worst part was after that, Keith down enough money to pay the bill and just left. His ex was left trying not to cry, more paralyzed than anything at that table. Lance felt awful. So he took it out of his tip to get him a free milkshake and give it to him. It was the least he could do. And when this poor guy had stayed there until the absolute end of closing, Lance walked him back to his dorm, letting him cry and whine into his ear about Keith.

Lance kept this in the back of his mind everytime he interacted with Keith.

-

Except for when he had taken just a few too many shots of tequila.

It was the Friday after midterms week, so obviously everyone was going out to celebrate. There were a few parties on campus that night, so it was really their choice which to go to. And Hunk had wanted to stay at a milder party because he still had work to do this weekend, some robot he wanted to get fixed up before Monday, so he wasn’t planning on being too crazy.

But Lance, Lance was fully ready to let the stress from the past few weeks evaporate off him. He had a physics midterm that day only, which had wrecked him. He thought he understood everything, and he had spent nights before studying the material, but the exam was ridiculously difficult. He considered asked if he had stepped into a Korean classroom or something instead. That’s how fish out of water he felt during the exam. So to stop himself from spending every moment reliving the exam, he drank. A lot.

Why Keith was at this party he wasn’t sure. It was a small party, and Lance was painfully aware there wasn’t as much alcohol there as would be ideal. But Lance became aware of Keith’s present when he walked straight into his firm, warm chest. Lance could feel Keith’s muscles underneath his thin black t-shirt. Lance was just sober enough to stop himself from moaning in approval.

“Are you going to stay there forever? I mean, I don’t mind. You’re cute.”

But apparently not sober enough to realize he was still holding onto Keith almost a full moment after bumping into him.

The second Lance moved back a bit, Keith’s eyes widened in recognition. “Oh, uh, hey.”

“You think I’m cute?”

“Mr. Righteous wants to know if I’m interested in getting in his pants? How the turn tables.”

“Wha- What!? No. I don’t want to know if you want to- You know what. I don’t care. This is one of your mind games.”

Lance was just about to leave, but as he walked past Keith, he felt a hot breath whisper in his ear. “If you’re curious, the answer’s yes. If you said the words, I’d be with you.”

By the time Lance had processed the words, and turned around, Keith was gone. And Lance needed to sit down.

-

Lance wrote off the interaction as a drunken hallucination. There’s no way it happened. And even if it did, it meant nothing to him. And sure, if Lance was taking longer routes to class because he wanted to avoid running into Keith around campus, then that was just because he hated Keith. And nothing else.

But Lance couldn’t avoid him forever. He was working tonight. And guess who happened to be seated in his section. Lance had practically begged the hostess to put Keith somewhere else, but it was futile. So he put on the fakest smile he could, and tried to imagine what Hunk would say in this moment to help him get through it.

“Hello. Welcome to The Lion’s Den. My name is Lance, and I will be your server tonight. How can I help you tonight?”

When Keith looked up and saw Lance, he did a double take. “Wait, you said your name in Lance?”

“Yup, and I’ll be your waiter for the evening. Is there anything I can get you?”

The man sitting next to Keith in the booth spoke up. “Hi. Can I just have a water?”

“Sure thing. And you?” Lance was going to pretend to not know Keith because that just felt like a better way to spite him. Pidge was probably rubbing off on him. Or he just prefers denial to dealing with his issues. That’s what Hunk would say.

“Uh, a water is fine, too. Thank you.”

Lance recognized the man Keith was with that night. He knew he did. It was a student from his astronomy class. Rolo! That’s what his name was. He knew Rolo knew what kind of person Keith is. Hell, Rolo was one of the first people to warn Lance about Keith. Lance just didn’t understand what was happening, but he hoped for two things: 1) that Rolo didn’t get hurt too badly by Keith and 2) Keith didn’t try to be an asshole and dump somebody else in his restaurant.

Serving them was actually not as terrible as he thought it would be. Keith didn’t cause any drama, and they were both really nice to Lance. However, that doesn’t mean that Lance had enjoyed himself that evening.

They were actually… cute together. And Lance couldn’t stop watching them. He normally liked slow days, but he was practically begging more people to come into the door that night. Something to distract him from the feeling building in the pit of his stomach.

Currently, Keith was resting his head on Rolo’s shoulder, listening to him tell some story about the day he had. Keith had a genuine smile on his face. They were even sharing a milkshake. Lance hated it. It was out of a movie. A cute romantic sap movie where everyone is happy and nobody sheds a tear. The biggest drama is when things for their wedding falls through.

Lance felt weird watching it. Part of him was mad. Because he knew the ending of this movie. He knew it would end with Rolo in tears with a pint of ice cream, surrounded by used tissues in bed, and Keith at a party the next night, drinking and having the audacity to enjoy himself.

But part of Lance – a part Lance would never admit to having, wondered what it would feel like to be Rolo in that situation. To have Keith’s full attention, even if just for a short while. To be able to take the wild cat, to have its love, knowing it would soon move onto another. Is it worth getting whisked away in the wind if you knew it would leave you cold and shivering?

And that part of Lance answered, in the quietest voice in the smallest part of his mind: Yes. If it meant having Keith for a moment.


	2. Chapter 2

Keith and Rolo were together for just over a month. The next time Lance actually saw Keith wasn’t until after that. It was their last day of classes, and it was practically impossible not to join a party if you left your dorm. Lance was so happy. With his second year done, he was officially pulling the grades he needed to get into the program he wanted to do (apparently everyone had done so bad on that physics exam that it got curved and Lance had a B in the class, and Lance was at the top of his astronomy class). He deserved a chance to celebrate, before reading period officially began the next day, and he would have to begin studying for his finals.

Hunk and Pidge had decided to stay in that night. They didn’t want to get drunk when they knew they had to start studying in the morning. Which Lance supposes he understands. Even if he called them wimps and whined about it for an hour. Their engineering exam was the first one scheduled, so they really needed to focus right now. Not that either of them was at risk of getting anything below a B-.

Lance decided to crash Alpha Deta Phi’s party because he’s heard that their parties were the best, and there was only one way to be sure. Lance also wasn’t going to lie – he kind of wanted to hook up with somebody. He hadn’t been with anyone for the whole semester, and he figured a night of fun would be nice. He wasn’t normally a hook up person, but he wasn’t opposed to it, and things were going so well for him lately, that he was more open to than idea. Especially since he blames most of his weird thoughts about Keith from earlier in the semester of being horny without release.

Not that Lance really spend much time thinking about him anymore. Keith never came back to The Lion Den again, and Lance didn’t even really end up running into him on his walks to class. Out of sight, out of mind.

Besides, Lance has been debating asking about Allura for the past two weeks now, but he just hasn’t been able to. She was the TA for his Astronomy 307 class, and Lance didn’t want to put her in the awkward position of him asking her when she graded his papers. But now that classes were out, and she was no longer responsible for him, he is hoping to get the change to ask her out. He’s actually going to be a TA for the class next semester, so he’ll get plenty of time to see her next semester. He couldn’t wait. Sure, Pidge said that Allura was out of his league, but even if that was true, she was a really interesting person, and Lance would love to have a person in his life that didn’t groan whenever he went off on a tangent about stars, or galaxies far, far away.

Who knows, if Lance’s luck kept going the way it was, he might even run into Allura tonight.

Lance was supposed to meet up with his friend Shiro at the party, and Lance was getting a bit antsy about having not run into him yet. He didn’t mind if he was at this party alone, he was social enough he could probably find someone to talk to, but he hated the feeling of being ditched. It didn’t do wonders for his self-esteem to say the least. Besides, Lance was trying not to drink too much by the time Shiro got there. Shiro always worried too much when Lance drank.

After another ten minutes, and Lance latching himself onto a group so he wouldn’t feel awkward waiting for Shiro alone, he finally felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see the man himself standing there.

“Hey! How are you?”

“Sorry I ran late. I just finished grading the last papers. My professor insisted I submit them by midnight tonight, even though the class only submitted them this Tuesday. It was kind of brutal.”

“Rip, I’m sorry dude. But now you’re here! Let’s get turnt!” Lance downed the almost full cup he was holding in a second, and ignored the look on Shiro’s face.

“Oh, also, I hope you don’t mind I brought a friend to tag along. He recently broke up with his boyfriend and was looking for somewhere to have some fun and take his mind off things.” Shiro looked around him, realizing that there was nobody standing next to him. “Uh, well, I guess he went off to get a drink already. His name is Keith, and I think you two might get along.”

Keith? It was a relatively common name, right? It couldn’t be-

“Speak of the devil and he shall appear! Keith, this is my friend Lance. Lance, Keith.” Shiro patted Keith’s back, slightly pushing him closer towards Lance. “I’m going to get something to drink, since it seems like I’m the only one left empty-handed. But you two should get to know each other.”

Lance wanted to protest, but he couldn’t speak. He couldn’t believe after so long, Keith was actually in front of him again. He wished he hadn’t already downed his drink.

“You know, uh, my cup’s empty too, so –“

“I didn’t realize you were a friend of Shiro’s.” Keith spoke up. For some reason, that made Lance abort his escape plan. Shiro and Keith were friends. He didn’t know what to do with that fact. Shiro was such a good guy, but Keith? Lance didn’t think so.

“I didn’t realize you had friends.”

Keith shrugged. “For the time being.”

“What does that even mean? Are you planning on dumping Shiro like the people you date?”

“I’m saying that you shouldn’t plan life living in absolutes and finalities. Things change, and you’re blind if you ignore it.”

“How long have you and Shiro even been friends? He’s never mentioned you before.”

“Since high school.”

“And you never tried to date him?”

“I’m not a slut, Lance.”

“Could’ve fooled me.”

“Why? Cause you want me to be one?”

Lance was never sure how Keith did this. His weird ability to turn the things Lance says against him. Lance ignored him to pretend to take a sip from his cup, because he just wasn’t sure what he would say in response to that.

“Because I wasn’t lying when I said all you need to say are the words.”

_What?_ Lance blinked. The memories of Keith flirting with his drunk ass came rushing back. He blinked again. Keith was taking an innocent sip out of his cup, as if he hadn’t just said what he thought he did. Keith was willing to be with him?

Shiro came back.

“Hey guys. I hope that wasn’t too awkward, I know I kind of just threw you at each other. But I mean, you both seem like you’d really hit it off. Lance did you know that Keith is in physics as well?  He has Professor Ulaz, though. Or had, I guess. I’m so glad classes are over. Aren’t you?”

It took all of Lance’s brain power to move his attention back to Shiro. “Yeah, yeah. Happy LDOC.” Lance was still watching Keith from the corner of his eye. Did Keith really just say what Lance thought he said? The small part of Lance’s brain was growing louder. _Who cares if you get hurt later? You want this. You’ve always had a thing for the guy, and he’s practically offering himself on a silver platter._

“Are you okay? You seem kind of out of it.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. I just – I’m brain dead after all my classes you know.” Lance laughed it off a bit, shifting his eyes so he could only see Shiro. “You know, I actually need to get something to drink again, but I’ll be right back.” Lance needed to excuse himself away from Keith. He needed space, and a little fresh air to breathe, and then he would be fine and suppress the small voice in his head before he did anything dumb.

“I’ll come with. I need to fill up my cup, too,” Keith said.

Lance cursed himself under his breath. Of course. Of fucking course. He should’ve just said he needed to use the bathroom. He tried to quietly suppress his feelings as he was all too aware of the fact that Keith was following him to the kitchen.

“Do you hate me?” Keith asked. He seemed like he didn’t care about the answer, but Lance was surprised by the fact he had even asked.

“I don’t get you.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“It’s all you’re getting,” Lance turned himself after pouring his drink to face Keith head on. “Why do you live the way you do? Do you get something out of making people cry? Is it some weird masochistic fetish to get everyone on campus to hate or resent you?”

“So you do hate me?”

“That’s not what I said, and that’s not an answer.”

“It’s all you’re getting.”

After a moment of watching Keith pour his drink, Lance asked a question he wasn’t sure he wanted the answer to. He downed his cup, bit the inside of his cheek, and then went for it.

“Why did you dump Rolo? You two actually looked… happy.”

“Do you think I date people to make myself or them unhappy? I’m not some weird storybook villain, Lance.”

For some reason, Lance couldn’t look at Keith when he answered. He grabbed the bottle from Keith’s hand to pour his own cup full again, to give himself something to do. “I don’t know. I saw when you dumped some guy in the past.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Freshman year sometime. I was your waiter and I had to take care of him after you dumped him right there.”

“That was… different. Look, I’m sorry if that ruined your night, or something, but I did try to tip extra incase the crying or whatever affected your other tips.” Keith genuinely looked sincere. And Lance felt himself softening, though he wasn’t sure if it was because of the alcohol or Keith.

“Lance, we should probably head back to Shiro. I don’t want to kee-“

“Were you serious?”

“What?”

“Fuck me.”

-

“Lance, are you going to say something, or are you just going to keep staring at me.”

It took Lance a moment to process what Keith said. And then another to process what just happened. _Wait, did I not say that aloud? Oh thank God. Someone up there is giving him a second chance._ He needs to go. This situation is too much. He doesn’t want to know what Keith’s actual reaction would be if he said that. He shouldn’t even be here with Keith.

“Yeah, yeah, uh, sorry. I should go. I don’t feel great.”

“Were you drinking the punch before we got here?”

“Hmm? Why does that matter?”

“You know it’s like super spiked right? It reeks of alcohol.”

_Shit._ Lance cursed under his breath. He was hoping to not have a terrible hangover tomorrow, but it looks like that went down the drain. But at least it explained why the hell he said what he just said. He let his guard down and he came this close to making a huge mistake.

“Are you going to black out on me? You keep starring off into the distance.” Keith waved his hand in front of Lance’s face.

“Uh, no. I – I’m good. I think I’m just going to head back to my dorm. I need to lie down.”

Keith grabbed Lance’s wrist, not that he was heading anywhere that quickly. “You know I can’t let you walk back like this. I’ll come with.”

“No – no. I – You should stay and enjoy yourself. I’m f-fine.”

“Would you prefer I ask Shiro?”

Lance hesitated for a moment. He’d feel a lot more comfortable if Shiro walked him back, but he also wasn’t sure if he wanted that lecture. He wished Hunk was there.

“Do you want me to call Hunk?”

“Did I say that out loud?”

“Lance, sit down and give me your phone.” Lance absentmindedly listened to Keith, immediately sitting on the floor and handing his phone up to Keith after unlocking it.

“You could’ve sat on the stool, dumbass.”

“I’ld’ve fallen.”

Keith rolled his eyes and hit Hunk’s contact.

“Hi. Lance is about to pass out, and he wants you to take him back. Oh. Um, it’s Keith. Sorry. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Bye.” Keith hung up the call and redirected his attention to Lance. “Your knight in shining armor is on his way. Coming with Pidge, if that means anything to you.”

“Pidge is in your physics class.”

“I don’t go to class.”

“Does Shiro know that?”

“Does he need to? Speaking of, I’m going to text Shiro that you’re heading out, okay? Otherwise he’ll worry you got kidnapped or abducted or something weird.”

“I’ll be in beautiful spirals of M81 if you need me.”

“Not the Black Eye galaxy?”

“You mean the Sleeping Beauty galaxy. Miss me with that emo shit.”

“Both are used, Lance.”

“Well, one can suck my ass.”

“God, when will Hunk arrive?” Keith groaned into his hands.

As if on cue, Hunk’s name lit up Lance’s phone. Lance answered the call and began to speak to Hunk in an oddly rapid gibberish, as Keith tried to help him get onto his feet. Within a few moments, Hunk walked into the kitchen, still on the phone, hanging up, only when he saw the mess of his friend in the middle of the room.

“Hey, Keith. Thanks. It means a lot you’d call.”

Keith shrugged it off. “I just didn’t want him to get hurt.”

“Then you’d do him a favor by not toying with him anymore.” Hunk said, a bit sterner. Keith was taken aback a bit by that comment, and decided that it was time for him to take his leave, turning around and walking away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops! Sorry this is late. Travelling back to campus messed me up a bit. But hope you like the new chapter!


	3. Chapter 3

Lance woke up on an all too familiar couch, with a glass of water and bottle of painkillers sitting next to him. Hunk truly was a godsend, especially given that Lance had woken up like this more times than Hunk has even visited his dorm. Though Hunk did have a significantly larger room - one of the perks of being an RA. Which makes it all the more surprising that Hunk was so chill about this.

Unlike usual, however, there was a sticky note stuck to Lance’s glass.

‘We should talk. Be back at 1pm with lunch.’

Lance hated the way that sounded. Maybe Hunk really did need Lance to stop crashing here.  _ But also, Hunk’s not the kind of person to leave a mysteriously foreboding note over something like that. He would just write that in the note. No, this implied Hunk wanted to have the conversation face to face. _

Lance couldn’t really remember what had happened the night before, and was worried he did something awful to Hunk, though he couldn’t imagine what that might entail. He’s never really gotten that drunk before, and wasn’t sure how bad he could get. He wasn’t liking this feeling either. It felt as if there was a fog blocking him from his memories, and he just wanted it to be clear. As Lance thought about it, he remembered he was supposed to meet Shiro last night. Maybe he would be able to shed some light.

Apparently, he wasn’t the only one with that idea. When Lance was able to find his phone stuck between the couch cushions, he saw he had a handful of text messages already:

 

Shiro: Okay, Keith told me you left. Text me when you get back.

Shiro: Wait, Keith isn’t here either anymore. Did he leave with you?

Shiro: Lance Daniel McClain, stop ignoring my text messages.

Shiro: Okay, I called Hunk. He said you’re okay and asleep. Don’t worry me like that. Talk to you tomorrow.

Pidge: Youre a dumbass.

Pidge: Just felt like you should wake up to that message.

Pidge: Also, since theres no way youll remember what Hunk said he wanted to talk about last night Keith called him to pick you up last night. Keith. Hes worried not mad youre welcome

 

Lance didn’t remember his run in with Keith last night before reading those messages. Then, slowly, he began to regain his memories from the night before. 

Lance groaned and dropped his head into his hands. Lance wasn’t sure if that was everything, but it was a start. At least he was prepared for when Hunk got back.

First problem first, though. He decided to text Pidge and Shiro back.

 

Lance: Sorry Shiro. Hope you found him – Idk what Keith was up to last night. Also, sorry for texting you while you’re studyin !

Shiro: Just glad you’re okay. Take care and good luck on your finals. We should eat together before break!

Lance: Ty, ty, ty

Pidge: I know you got extra cash on your meal plan I want a milkshake

Lance: Deal

Lance: Also question – did you know Shiro was friends w Keith? That’s the only reason I ran into him last night.

Pidge: I can ask matt bout it ?

Lance: Nah, leave it. Idc

Pidge: k

When Lance closed his messages, he realized that it was almost time for Hunk to get back, and decided that with his leftover time, he might as well try to do something to say thank you to his best friend.

Lance got off Hunk’s couch, ignoring the throbbing in his head that resulted, and took Hunk’s dirty dishes bin to the common room kitchen to clean.

Hunk hated doing the dishes, and only forces himself through the process because his moms told him that if he wanted to cook, he would have to learn to clean up after himself. If Lance could take this chore off Hunk’s to do list, it had to put him in a better mood. So even though Lance wasn’t about dishwater, he rolled up his sleeves and got to it.

By the time Lance was done drying everything, he heard someone with Hunk’s gait walk in through the door. He quickly finished up the last two dishes, before walking quickly to catch up to his best friend. “Thank you,” as they walked through the rest of the hallway to his room.

The second Hunk’s door closed, the tide quickly came rushing in.

“Lance, how could you get so drunk? What if someone else found you first?” Though it was common place to hear Hunk’s voice filled with nervousness, the frustration underlying his anxiety worried Lance. He felt guilty, a pit growing in his stomach. It took a lot to get Hunk upset and he hates when he’s the cause of it. Hunk didn’t deserve to stress over him. Lance felt like such a shitty friend.

“I know, but I wasn’t trying to be reckless. I didn’t realize the punch was as spiked as it was, and when I saw Ke-“

“I knew it! You’re going to hurt yourself one of these days if you keep putting yourself in his path.”

“I wasn’t tryi-“ Lance could hear the whiny tone in his voice and he hated it. He was desperate to get Hunk to understand. He knew he didn’t deserve Hunk as a friend, but he nerves were rattling with more and more energy the more he heard Hunk’s stern voice.

“I don’t want to lecture you, Lance. And I really don’t want this to come off as that, but do you know how worried I was? When some strange guy’s voice called me late last night? When he said you were passing out? When that guy ended up being Keith, -“

“Hey don’t –“

“your fatal attraction, or whatever.”

“Hunk, let me speak, okay?” Something about Hunk’s words made Lance snap. Lance placed the dish bin against the desk loudly, immediately wincing once the sound hit his ears. “Sorry,” he whispered under his breath.

Hunk sighed and sat down on his couch. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I got carried away. But you deserve to tell your side.” Hunk buried his head into his hands, fingers combing through his hair. He rubbed his eyes with the palm of his hands, before looking up at Lance, expectedly. Hunk realized he went too far, but he couldn’t help the fact that he had been so scared the night before.

“Well, apparently Keith and Shiro are friends.”

“Wait, what?” Hunk leaned forward in his seat, all the frustration washed from his face.

“Exactly. Like, I didn’t just run into him or something. Shiro brought him and introduced him to me saying that he thought we’d really hit it off.”

“Did he say why?”

“Keith was in the same physics course as me, just different professors. And I found out that Keith is an astronomy geek too? Apparently he knows other galaxies at least.”

“No, I mean why they’re friends. Shiro and Keith seem so… different.”

“To say the least. Nah, Shiro didn’t comment on it, but Keith said they were friends in high school. Don’t you think it’s odd that Shiro hasn’t introduced us to him before?”

“For sure. But how did you end up drinking that much if Shiro was around.”

“Again, I had no clue how spiked the punch actually was. Plus, I was a bit freaked out when I saw Keith, so I may have downed them a bit quicker than I should’ve.”

“Was he bearable?”

“Honestly, I feel bad cause I was kind of on the attack at first, but he was trying to be nice, if a bit flirty. But I was strong.” Lance decided to hold back on his almost slip up. It would just worry him, anyway.

“I’m sorry for being so upset. You didn’t deserve that,” Hunk said after a moment. “You know what, I’m going to call Keith back and apologize to him.”

“Wait, you have his number? And apologize to him for what?”

“I was a bit hostile to him last night, but it's clear now he didn’t try to seek you out when you were drunk or anything. But yeah, remember, he called me last night. It should be in my recents.”

“Wasn’t that from my phone?”

“Oh, you’re right. Next time I see him then. Now, let’s eat.”

Hunk put away his phone and got up to begin to take the food out of the bag, but Lance was still thinking about what Hunk had said. He quickly unlocked his phone and sent a text:

Lance: Hey last thing – do you think I could have Keith’s number? Maybe I can ask him my questions instead of bothering Coran.

“Lance, what’re you up to?” Hunk asked.

“Just apologizing to Shiro about leaving early last night.”

Lance knew he was playing with fire. Having Keith’s number in his phone was a weakness he’d never allow himself prior to last night, but he could feel his resolve break down – his weakness becoming more apparent. He was softening towards Keith. He loved having Keith’s attention, hearing his voice, feeling like Keith cared. (Okay, so maybe Hunk did have a right to worry.)

So even though Lance knew that on some drunken, lonely night in the future he would come to regret this decision, the second Shiro replied back, a new contact was already saved in his phone.

-

And that lonely night did come. It was Lance’s last night on campus, having an afternoon flight the next day, and he was all done with exams and just hit submit on his last term paper. He was officially free!

Sadly, this achievement came later for him than all his friends: Hunk, the lucky bastard, only had papers, so he decided to head home early and complete them there. Apparently, another RA was willing to cover his room inspections because Hunk had helped him in some engineering class all semester. Pidge had a really stressful final season, taking all their exams in the first three days, but now they were at least enjoying the sun somewhere warm. And while Shiro was technically supposed to be on campus to help grade, he had scanned everything to grade electronically and left earlier in the day.

Which meant that Lance was currently fiddling with his thumbs, only half able to pay attention to the episode of The Office he loaded up on Netflix. He was a social person, and he didn’t like being alone with his thoughts.

His first attempt to escape isolation was just to text his friends and see if they were free. Pidge responded enough to say that they were watching a movie marathon and couldn’t really text, and Hunk sent back an audio recording, saying that his hands weren’t free, but they could call. He was busy baking with his little cousins.

Lance decided not to call him, though, not wanting to hear the tiny voices in the background and become homesick. Even if home was technically only a day away for Lance, he still feels like it has been forever since he had seen his siblings and his parents, and it was killing him. He didn’t need to build on that. He was already feeling lonelier at just the thought. He needed to focus on something else.

All that was left was Shiro. Lance opened up his texts to the man, only to remember that he would probably be busy, given that all his final grades needed to be in within 48 hours. Lance didn’t want to bother him when he had all that work. Lance debated what he should try next, when it caught his eye. At the top of the screen, Shiro’s innocent enough message sat:

 

Shiro: Knew you guys would kick it off! Here: [Shared Contact: Keith Kogane]

 

Lance stared at that message for too long. But he wasn’t drunk enough to ask Keith out in any way, shape, or form. He knew he shouldn’t – that it wasn’t a smart decision. But his thoughts drifted back to the idea that had been nagging at him all week. How was Shiro of all people, such close friends with Keith? It felt like Lance had to jump through hoops to impress Shiro and join his friend group, yet Keith was fine? 

_ It was unfair. _

So it was nothing but Lance’s competitive side (and insecurities, if he was being honest with himself), that led to his frustrated text to Keith.

 

Lance: Seriously, how did you become friends with Shiro??

Keith: Who is this?

Lance cursed under his breath.  _ Why was he so impulsive? Of course, Keith wouldn’t have had his number. This was so creepy. Why was he like this? _ Before he could figure out how to take back the question, his phone vibrated again.

Keith: Lance. Should’ve realized Shiro would’ve given you my number.

Keith: You don’t text like I would’ve expected.

Lance: And please tell, what did you expect?

Lance now felt super conscious of how he was texting Keith, trying to copy Keith’s texting style (even if it was ridiculously formal in Lance’s opinion). This guy had no right to judge him for something so small, especially since he barely even knew him.

Keith: Have you ever texted Matt?

Lance: Pidge’s brother?

Keith: That’s the one.

Lance: How do you know them?

Keith: It’d be a bit odd if I didn’t know my friend’s boyfriend, don’t you think? And Pidge is *always* with Matt.

Lance: How are you and Shiro even friends?

Keith: Already told you.

Lance: But how?

Keith: Are you still on campus? Wanna get a drink with me?

 

Lance bit his lip. He said he wouldn’t go, and he wanted to stick with that. He just wanted information from Keith, nothing more. But he was getting sick of laying on his dorm room bed, and he wanted the answer to his question. He wanted to know why Keith cared enough to become Shiro’s friend, and that he didn’t win over Shiro as easily as he won over every other guy he meets. He wanted Keith to be bad at something, so he could feel a bit better about himself. He wanted to know that Shiro didn’t just make himself jump through hoops.

 

Lance: What, tryin to get me drunk?

Keith: Do I need to?

Keith: Coffee’s fine, too. But I don’t like getting interrogated over text.

Lance: Why, so you can try to flirt with me to get me to stop?

Keith: More like to get you to start

 

Lance groaned. He couldn’t deal with this in person. There was no way he could go meet Keith in person. He decided he had to drop the question.

 

Lance: Have fun drinking alone. I’m not coming out.

Keith: What dorm are you in?

Lance: Brown. Why?

Keith: Be there with coffee in 10. Don’t lock me out.

 

Lance groaned. There was no reality where this would end without it being a complete disaster for him. He wanted to call Hunk for advice, but he knew he got himself into this situation in a way he didn’t want to admit. So he tried to just clean his room as best as he could, and pray that he would leave this with some dignity. Because as much as he wanted to leave Keith outside, knocking on his door, the second he heard Keith say his name through the wood, he was letting him in.


	4. Chapter 4

“How do you think Physics ended up going for you?” Keith asked, handing Lance his coffee cup, and seating himself on Lance’s couch.

“Fine. So why are you here, Keith?” Lance sat down next to him, and Keith angled his body so that he was properly facing his host.

“I added two sugars, two creams to your coffee. I wasn’t sure, but you seem like you like the sweet stuff.” Keith ignored Lance’s question, simply sipping on his own coffee and mindfully watching Lance.

Lance eyes widened slightly. How was Keith able to guess that? He didn’t want to fan Keith’s ego by telling him he was right, though, so he simply took a small sip and looked at Keith, unimpressed. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“I was hoping we could chat before we jumped to the interrogations. That is why I’m here right? Unless, you had some other motives in texting me?” Keith winked at Lance slightly.

“You’re the one who chose to come over though, and so quickly, too.”

Keith shrugged, looking down now. Quietly he answered, “I just like spending time with you.”

Lance raised his eyebrows at that, but wasn’t really quite sure how he wanted to respond to that. He took a sip of his coffee and said, “I think Physics went well.”

“Yeah, I thought our last exam was a piece of cake.”

“How? You barely even go to class and you call the exam a piece of cake, but I go to every lecture and have to study hours to get a decent grade.”

“It’s ‘cause I don’t go to lecture.”

“Nope, nope. I’m not falling for whatever weird ploy to trick me into failing.”

“The class is already over, Lance. And I just mean that our professor’s confusing. And goes on unrelated tangents a lot. I’d rather just spend the class time studying the textbook. I get more out of it.”

“But Professor Coran is a good guy.”

“Yeah but on the second day of class we listened to him talk about the anatomy of some weird worm for like ten minutes. After that, I figured it’d be best I don’t go.”

“I’ll admit that was off-topic, but don’t you think it was interesting.”

“But not what I’m paying for.”

Lance tilted his head, but didn’t reply to Keith. Keith seemed so objective. Lance wasn’t really sure what to make of him. Isn’t there a value in education for its own sake? That’s what his Mama always taught him. That’s why she didn’t mind when he tried to learn guitar for a month over the summer, despite the fact she had to listen to his terrible strumming and barely tuned guitar all the time. Or when he got into his etymology phase as a kid, despite the fact she’d yell anytime he brought some weird beetle into the house. He enjoyed listening to Coran talk about those worms, because it’s not like he didn’t learn the physics he needed, and he loved hearing what made other people excited, even if it wasn’t necessarily his interest.

“What makes you excited, Keith?”

And the second the question left Lance’s mouth, he realized he should have worded it differently.

“Are you sure you’re not drunk right now, Lance? Not the question I’d expect from you. But if you’re curious…“

“No, no, no. I’m good. I meant, what interests you? What are you passionate about?”

“Wait, so no interrogation about Shiro and I? I thought that’s why I was here. I had prepared answers for that.”

“I like keeping people on their toes.” In reality, Lance had forgotten about it once he saw Keith in person. He’d have to get that answer at another time.

“Hmm? Oh really?” Keith leaned towards Lance. “So do I.” Keith locked eyes with Lance. Only a few inches left between their faces. Lance made the mistake of looking down at Keith’s lips. Keith bit his lower lip lightly. It was as if his lips were shining. Lance couldn’t unlock his gaze from Keith’s lips. For a moment, he thought he felt himself leaning in a bit more.

“Shit!” Lance cursed, jumping off the couch now, away from Keith. He tipped his coffee cup and accidently spilt some of the too hot coffee right onto his hand. He brought his finger to his mouth, walking over to his fridge to stick his finger in the refreshingly cold air.

Keith snapped out of his stupor, and got off the couch to follow Lance, putting his coffee cup down on the desk. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah. It wasn’t too bad. Just surprising.” Lance closed the fridge, turning himself slightly so his back was to Keith. “You should go though.”

Lance was uncomfortable at how close they came. If Hunk had seen that. Lance couldn’t deal with it. _Why did I let my guard down so much? Why am I so weak when it comes to Keith?_   Lance was a few inches from jumping headfirst into the fire, forgetting the fact he could get burned. He needed to remind himself Keith was dangerous. But with the more time he spent with him, the less he remembered his string of heart breaks.

“Oh, um, okay. Sorry. I didn’t mean to overstep anything. I got the idea that – I thought you were into guys, too.” Lance turned around to see Keith and he seemed like he was fiddling with his gloves slightly. He looked small.

And Lance felt bad. Even if he didn’t like Keith’s dating… habits, he still knows how hard it is to put yourself out with guys. That’s why he tended to flirt with girls more. It wasn’t as scary. He was less likely to be rejected and mocked. He never really thought about Keith dealing with that fear too. He always seemed so confident. So sure of himself. But now, he seemed human to Lance.

“Oh, no, uh. It’s not that. I don’t care that you’re gay, Keith. I’m bi. It’s just that… I, uh, want to be alone right now.”

“Oh, okay. Sorry.” Keith turned around, walking towards the door. Before he opened the door, though, he turned around to face Lance, who was still next to his mini-fridge. Lance watched him, waiting to see what he would say. But Keith simply decided to close his mouth, shaking his head to himself, before leaving.

The door shut with a deafening click. Lance was alone once again, feeling both better and worse than he did before.

At least now he only had a few hours left until he would leave.

He went back to his couch, pulling out his phone to see if Hunk was free now. Write as he pulled his phone out though, he received a text from Keith.

Keith: Space, I guess. That’s what I’m passionate about.

Keith: But I guess you already knew that from the other night

Lance looked at the message for a while, debating if he should even reply and if so, what he would say, when he noticed Keith’s coffee cup still sitting on his desk. He picked it up, about to throw it out, when he noticed a scratchy handwriting on the side.

A phone number.

With a heart next to it.

Lance put away his phone, and dumped the cup without another thought.

~

Or maybe not without a second thought.

“Hunk, can you believe that? Like not that I’m interested or anything, but how rude?” Lance ended up calling Hunk later that evening, leaving him on speaker phone while he did some last-minute packing for his long-awaited trip home. And while he didn’t want to tell Hunk about Keith coming over at first, Lance had trouble keeping it from his best friend, and he wanted to talk about this. And surprisingly, Hunk was pretty chill about the whole thing, especially since Keith kind of invited himself over. Knowing Keith was friends with Shiro probably changed Hunk’s view of him. Lance knows the same happened for him.

“I mean, he just went over to hang out, right? If he wasn’t like trying to hit on you or anything, and it wasn’t his choice to get the number on his cup. It was the barista who wrote it.” Hunk sounded a bit distracted on his end, and from the sounds in the background, Lance could hear Mario Kart running in the background.

“Well… “

The game noises paused. “What happened, Lance?”

“Uh, nothing. Nothing. Besides, I’m heading home. The only boy on my mind will be Ernie in a few short hours.”

“Oh, Ernesto just graduated, right? God, he’s so old now.” Lance is glad Hunk was willing to drop it. He’s probably still being a bit more sensitive about the situation given their last talk. Besides, once Lance gets home, any thoughts of Keith will be cleansed out of his system.

“Yeah, just Sofia and Gaby are left now. I’m practically a grandpa.”

“Don’t worry, bro. We’ll get us some matching canes, it’ll be fine,” Hunk joked. Mario Kart resumed in the background, and Lance heard someone cursing Luigi in the background. Luigi was always Hunk’s favorite character – the underdog.

“Only if we have those stylish ones that make us look like mafia bosses.”

“Of course. I know you’d never settle for anything less.”

“That would be an epic Halloween costume one year. We should keep that in mind.”

“We always do something as a group though. What would Pidge be?”

“Pidge is more likely to be a mafia boss than any of us.” Hunk laughed in response.

After talking for a bit more, Lance eventually hung up on Hunk so that he could rest. He had trouble sleeping on the plane. He loved looking out the window, watching the city get smaller and smaller until it disappeared behind a sheet of white clouds. Sadly, he wasn’t flying at night. He would have loved to be able to see the stars twinkling, especially since a new moon was just around the corner. Nothing to distract from their bright twinkling.

Right as Lance was drying off his face at the end of his nightly routine, he heard his phone buzz. He pulled it out to see a text from Keith.

Keith: Sorry if I messed up anything today. I do hope we can be friends though.

 

Lance felt bad. He had ignored Keith’s messages all day. And Hunk was right. Keith didn’t ask the barista for their number. In fact, the fact he left his cup here implies he didn’t even care about getting that number. He decided to reply back.

Lance: You’ll have to pass a test first.

Keith: Oh?

Lance: Why do you like space?

Keith: How is that a test? You won’t know the correct answer.

Lance: If you wanna be friends, you have to be able to open up to me

And Lance knew that included himself. So he started to text a bit more like himself. A small step, but a necessary one. Lance watched his phone after a moment of Keith not replying. He saw Keith typing a message, only to see it quickly disappear. It stayed gone for a few moments before appearing again. It seemed to repeat.

Lance: Hard question ??

Keith: Earth sucks in comparison.

Lance figured there was more to that idea. But this was a step. And a step Lance was happy Keith took. It was enough for now.

Lance: if you could go anywhere, do anythin, would you stay in the solar system?

Keith: There’s more to the test?

Lance: No im trying to be your friend

Lance: friends get to know each other

Keith: My turn then. Same question.

Lance: cheap move but ill answer

Lance: it sounds cheesy, but um,,

Lance: I want to be with the stars

Lance held his breath. For some reason, he was more scared to share that with Keith than anything else that had happened between them before. Even including the almost kiss. Which Lance was still trying to push from his mind. He and Keith are only friends now. Keith isn’t a good boyfriend.

Keith: The stars are in all different galaxies. That’s not really one place, Lance.

Lance exhaled. Not the best response, but the fact Keith didn’t make fun of him made him feel better.

Lance: ik that i am an astronomy major you know

Keith: Really? Me too. Well, Astrophysics.

Lance: god, I hate physics

Keith: hah, I know Lance.

Something about Keith’s message felt Lance feel like they’ve been friends for a while. They barely know each other, all things considered. But Lance felt like he could actually be friends with Keith. Without it being awkward.

Or at least, he could do it over the phone.

He’ll see what happens when he gets back from break.


	5. Chapter 5

Break was way too short in Lance’s opinion. He should have been home for at least a month after how rough the past semester was, but he was happy to take what he could get. He loved seeing his family again, not to mention it was great to have a full belly of his mother’s cooking. But alas, he was back at college, new notebooks in his bag, and waiting until tomorrow afternoon until he had his first class. He was luckier though this semester, only have an early class on Thursday mornings. Lance hated getting up for classes.

Lance was currently laying on Hunk’s couch, watching him set up his switch and television, though he made no movement to help. Not that Hunk would really expect him to – they’ve been friends long enough to know that its probably best for Hunk to handle all the wires. Lance gets frustrated very quickly with tangled wires – hence why Hunk got him wireless headphones the second he could.

“Huuunkkk, when is Pigeotto getting back?”

“They evolved?”

“After getting all As last semester, I think it’s the least I could do.”

“Matt doesn’t have classes tomorrow, so I’m pretty sure Pidge is just ditching her first day of classes to move in with him tomorrow.”

“Ugh, lucky.”

“Am I not enough for you, Lance?”

“No, no, Hunk I love you.” Lance dove off the couch, hugging Hunk from behind while his legs still tried to keep him balanced on the couch. It failed, as he ended up toppling onto Hunk and rolling onto the carpet behind him.

“That’s what you get, dude.”

“I’m gonna go find some new friends to hang out with.” Lance stuck out his tongue at Hunk in retaliation, pulling out his phone. He saw two texts he must not have felt vibrate in his pocket earlier.

Keith: Shiro wanted me to let you know that he also can’t help you move in anymore. His phone broke after Matt dropped the couch on it (long story), and he’s spending the day trying to see if he can get a replacement or something like that.

Keith: Are you back? I can help if you need.

Lance: Figured

Lance: Pidge sent me a snap of her laughin @ Shiro holding his broken phone

Lance: Hunk already helpd me tho

Lance may not have been quite honest with the last text, but it was close enough. All his boxes and bags were in his room – he just didn’t feel like unpacking them yet. Hence why he was lounging in Hunk’s room instead. Besides, Lance wasn’t really sure if he wanted to go to his room with him and help him lift heavy boxes. He didn’t want Keith to make fun of the things he owned or have to watch a bead of sweat slowly roll down his neck while his voice sounded breathy. Just thinking about it made Lance’s lungs feel weighted.

Lance and Keith had talked over the break, sending a few texts here and there, mostly centered around cool astronomy discoveries and some surface get-to-know-you questions. Lance picked up relatively quickly that Keith didn’t want to do anything personal, and Lance tried his best to respect that. He was a curious person, but he tried to bite his tongue.

At this point, Lance may even consider calling Keith a friend.

Keith: Let’s hang. Coffee in 10?

Which is why he had no valid reason for why his breathing stuttered hearing that text. Keith was a friend. Which meant they should be able to hang out and grab coffee and it shouldn’t be a big deal. But the reason they were able to talk was because they weren’t hanging out in person. Lance didn’t trust himself to be _friends_ with Keith (and only that) in person.

Lance: Sry w Hunk

Keith: I can come to y’all. How does Hunk like his coffee?

Lance: Just cream, no sugar.

Lance figured it would be okay to hang out with Keith if he knew Hunk was there. It would allow them to test the waters, so to speak. And Lance could also leave without it being as weird, given they were in Hunk’s dorm.

“Hunk, is it alright if Keith comes over with coffee? I figured we could hang out as a group.” Hunk was aware of Lance’s new friendship with Keith from the course of the break, because Lance could never keep anything from him long, and because Pidge was a traitor who roasted him in the group chat when she found out from Matt (who found out from Shiro) that he and Keith were texting frequently.

“Yeah that’s fine with me. I could use the coffee. You think you’re good to hang out with him in person?”

“Yeah, I mean he’s chill when he doesn’t think with his dick.”

“And when you can silence your own.”

“Hey,” Lance said, grabbing a pillow from the couch to throw at his friend. Hunk laughed, throwing the pillow back, and it quickly dissolved into a pillow ~~fight~~ war.

A knock on the door brought an end to the battle, with Lance insisting he won, while they both tried to catch their breath. Hunk rolled his eyes and opened the door. He welcomed Keith, thanking him for his coffee and quickly downing about half of it right there.

“Hey, Lance.” Keith handed Lance his drink, before taking a sip of his own.

“Hey, Keith. You know Hunk, I’m assuming.” Keith nods and gives a small wave to Hunk, despite having already quietly greeted him at the door.

“Do you guys want to play Mario Kart? I think I just finished setting it up and I want to test it out,” Hunk said, saving the two boys from further awkwardness as he fiddled with the last cable to make sure it was securely connected to his TV.

Lance immediately grabbed a controller, sitting cross-legged on the couch, game face on. Keith sat next to him with an amused smirk on his face, yet didn’t make any movement to grab a controller for himself. Lance raised an eyebrow at him.

“Do you not want to play?”

“I’ve never actually played before, so I’d rather watch. I only play single-player games most of the time.” Keith shrugged, taking another long sip of his coffee. “An ex of mine wanted to teach me, but we never got around to it.”

Lance bit his tongue to try to get the bitter taste out of his mouth, and it wasn’t from his sugar-loaded coffee. _Probably cause you dumped him a week later_ , Lance thought. His shoulders became a bit tight, but he let Hunk start up the game and lost himself in trying to beat the Luigi that flew past him on the screen.

“Princess Peach, Lance? Really?” Keith asked when the game was over, clearly holding back a laugh.

“She’s a great character. Leave me alone. You’d probably play as Wario or something.”

“I like the mushroom guy.”

At this, Lance physically turned towards Keith, gawking. “Toad? Of all the Mario Characters you could choose, you pick Toad?!”

Keith simply shrugged, amusement in his eyes though his mouth stayed in a straight line. “You didn’t even win, you don’t have the right to roast me. Hunk, who’s better: Daisy or Toad?”

“Nope, not getting in the middle of this. Luigi is the best and Mario sucks. These are my only thoughts.”

“Why do you hate Mario?” Lance groaned at Keith’s question, not wanting to sit through the explanation _again_.

“Mario steals the spotlight! The _Mario_ brothers, like are you kidding me? Why does he get all the recognition in their name? And don’t even give me that Mario Mario stuff because that means Luigi has to live with Mario’s name and he doesn’t deserve that. All Mario does is keep losing Princess Peach. He isn’t a good guy. You know Bowser’s behind it every time – just get a security system that says no big dragon turtle things. Done.”

Hunk spoke passionately, looking behind him slightly at Keith when he felt he made a strong point, and inevitably ended up talking with his hands. Because of the distraction, Hunk began to fall behind, with Lance stealing the victory as he came in third place.

“Hey! Not fair,” Hunk groaned as Lance’s hands flung to the air in a victory cheer.

“Take that Hunk! You don’t got nothing on this. I just needed a warm up.”

“It’s only cause Keith distracted me.”

Keith gave a light-hearted laugh at this. “You’re welcome, babe.” Keith gave Lance a quick kiss on his cheek, before standing up and downing the rest of his coffee. “Before I cause a blood feud between best friends, I actually need to be heading out. Need to finish shopping before Shiro yells at me for having nothing but a packet of ramen and a half-full bottle of vodka in my kitchen. But it was nice to see you guys. I’ll see you around.” As Keith made it to the door, he half-turned slightly to give one last wave. “Bye, Lance.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one is a little bit shorter than normal - I just really wanted to post something this weekend, and I thought this was a cute place to end the chapter. 
> 
> As always, I love reading your comments! <3


	6. Chapter 6

Hunk had laughed at Keith’s antics and the way Lance’s eyes bulged out of his skull, but he left it at that. Lance wasn’t sure if it was the fact they seemed to be becoming friends, or if it was just because Keith seemed to be friends with Shiro, but Hunk was less critical of Keith. Maybe the fact Keith had been a standup guy when Lance got ridiculously drunk. Lance knows that he appreciated that a lot.

But Lance still didn’t have his head wrapped around the kiss. Or the fact Keith called him babe. His heart sure as hell wouldn’t let him forget it though, so he worked on distracting himself instead.

Lance spent the rest of the evening playing Hunk in Mario Kart, easily taking the lead once Rainbow Road was selected, before finally going to settle in his room enough that his bed was made, and his bag was packed. He wasn’t really ready to deal with classes, but he hoped he could bank on it being syllabus week.

~

It was decidedly _not_ syllabus week. During Lance’s 10:30am course, his professor simply told them to read the syllabus on their website, not even bothering to show them where it was on his confusing site, and then immediately jumped into Chapter One. Lance was bored out of his mind and not ready for the influx of information on Linear Algebra and the theoretical nth-dimensional space his professor was talking about. But this was a huge requirement for his major, so he tried to stay focused and took notes where he could even understand what was being said.

That is, until he saw a familiar mullet sitting a few seats down the row.

Lance took out his phone subtly, and quickly sent the text:

Lance: ur 9 o’clock

Lance turned his head towards the board, trying not to obsessively watch Keith as he waited for him to receive the text. He tapped his pencil against his notebook, then took a glance over, before becoming impatient and sending another text.

Lance: check ur phone mullet

Lance watched Keith closely this time, and realized he just wasn’t going to check his phone. It was the first day, and Keith was already taking this all so seriously. One part of Lance was surprised because he had expected Keith’s bad-boy personality to come into the classroom as well, and that he would be on his phone, or at the very least not paying attention. But instead, Keith was simply sitting and looking straight forward. He didn’t have a notebook or anything, but seemed to actually be paying attention to the lecture intently. Lance hated it – how could Keith be sitting there and acting like a good student, but didn’t even bother to take notes or anything? It’s not like he could just memorize the information from lecture.

Lance sighed and accepted that he wouldn’t be getting any entertainment out of Keith, so tried to go back to focusing on the lecture.

But his eyes drifted back to Keith, specifically to Keith’s lips. It’s not like he was doing anything to necessarily draw attention to them, but Lance was having trouble forgetting the fact Keith kissed his cheek. He could practically feel the outline of Keith’s lips heating up on his skin. He rubbed his face, hoping that it wasn’t obvious to anyone else.

What game was Keith playing? Why was it that, in one moment, they joked and were friends, and the next he was flirting with Lance and trying to get him riled up? And now he was ignoring Lance, not even giving him the light of day. He knew that it wasn’t fair to bring up the last point, but goddammit, if Keith is going to entertain himself by bothering Lance, Lance should at least be able to do the same.

Lance was startled out of his trance by his phone buzzing on his lap.

Keith: class is over, idiot. meet me outside when you snap out of your starring.

Lance blinked twice, and realized that most people were standing around him and beginning to pack their things. Keith had left his seat, not needing to waste time to pack up anything, and Lance saw him already heading out the door. Rude. He could’ve at least waited for Lance to pack up his things, or even told Lance class was over in person.

He felt a little bit embarrassed about his zoning out, and quickly followed Keith and escaped their lecture hall. Keith had his hair down, with a red sweatshirt over a black tank-top and some basketball shorts. Lance wanted Keith to take off the sweatshirt so bad, just to see what his arms looked like. He knew Keith was toned, and Lance was simply a curious student.

“Hey, rolled out of bed this morning?” Lance nodded towards his outfit.

Keith rolled his eyes but didn’t afford Lance a response to that. “Seems like we have this class together. I didn’t think it was a requirement for astronomy majors.”

“It is if you take calculus in high school and still have a required number of math credits.”

“Ahh, sucks.”

Lance shrugged, not really sure what to do with this conversation.

“Well, you better start paying attention more if you want to have study dates. Can’t have you clueless.”

Keith pushed himself off the wall after that line and began to walk away from the building. After a few moments he turned and looked back at Lance. “Coming?”

Lance took a few quick strides to catch up to Keith. “Where are we going?”

“Do you have class now?”

“No, I only have that one on Mondays. Thank god.”

“Then my place.”

Lance halted at this point, forcing Keith to stop and look at him before he spoke. “Keith. What?”

“Why not?”

“You can’t just command me to go places!”

“We don’t have to go to my place then.” Keith put his hands in his pockets and shrugged. “If you would be willing, though, I didn’t actually go shopping last night, and I’d like some help keeping Shiro from turning into mom-mode.”

“That I’ll help you with. But only because when Shiro becomes overprotective, he takes it out on all of us, and one time last semester, he insisted he showed me how to properly floss because, and I quote, ‘brushing does nothing, Lance. I can’t have you losing your teeth by 40.’”

Keith smirked at that. “Yeah, that’s my bad. He got stressed out, and I guess it was midterm season too, because he kind of snapped. Matt told me that he threw out all of Pidge’s Monster during that binge. He didn’t look me in the eye for about two weeks.”

“Dude, what did you do?”

“He walked in on me sucking someone’s dick.”

Lance halted, suddenly forgetting how to breathe. He really didn’t need the mental image of Keith on his knees, worshiping some guy’s cock, moaning around it while looking up with droopy eyes filled with lust. Yup, Lance really didn’t need that image. Not like it would make his getting over Keith harder at all.

And on top of it all, Keith hadn’t stopped walking, or even noticed Lance’s reaction. “I mean, it was his fault really. Shiro insisted on getting a key to my place. I told him he’d end up regretting that decision, but at least he knocks now. But I feel bad for the dude. Apparently, he was supposed to take Shiro’s class and he had to switch into another section last minute because he couldn’t deal with the embarrassment.”

Lance quickly caught up to Keith, trying his best to look unaffected. “You still haven’t told me why you and Shiro are friends, but God, for him to have made it through something like that must mean you guys are really close. I think if Shiro ever walked in on me eating a Twinkie, forget sex, I couldn’t ever see him again without dying.”

Keith shrugged. “We’ve just known each other for a while. Shiro isn’t as perfect as he comes off, and I guess that’s why I’m not really phased by him anymore. And I mean, to be fair, eating a Twinkie is definitely worse. Those things are disgusting.”

Lance pushed Keith’s shoulder. “Okay, man, whatever. You just don’t know how to live. Hunk does this thing where he warms Twinkies up to like the _perfect_ temperature, and even though I’m dying it makes it worth it.”

Keith rolled his eyes, ignoring Lance’s endorsement of Twinkies of all things. “Besides, Shiro would rather I do anything with you than even that guy. He _hated_ him.”

Lance really tried not to think about Keith and him in the position Shiro walked in on. It was a test. This was God working against him. His Abuela somehow was testing him just like she used to do in church when he was seven, smacking the back of his head when he was caught dozing off or getting distracted.  

“Why?”

“Eh, Shiro likes you. I’m pretty sure that’s why he wanted us to meet. You’d be a good influence on me or whatever. Bullshit, but whatever. If anything, I’m probably a bad influence on you.” Keith shrugged and looked over at Lance. “I hope you like bad boys, Lance,” Keith winked, before giving a small chuckle.

As they reached the store, Lance decided that he can’t trust himself to continue to spend this much time alone with Keith, especially if it entailed going back to Keith’s place, as his mind already drifted to… sinful places a few times in just their short walk. Keith really was going to test him. Pausing outside, Lance decided it would be worth taking his leave now, before things got any harder. Both in the literal and symbolic sense.

“Keith, I’m gonna head out cause I got to grab food and stuff before meeting with Pidge and Hunk, but I’ll see you later, okay?”

Keith seemed confused, but raised his hand to wave bye, as Lance was already taking a step backwards. “Fine, leave me to die at Shiro’s hands alone.”

“Hey, if you survived that, you’ll survive this fine. Oh! And pick up some M&Ms – they’re the best study sesh snack. See you next time!” Lance waved, before turning on his heel and heading back towards the dining hall, decidedly stopping by the bathroom first to splash his face a bit before visiting his friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there were so many other things i wanted to do but i didnt want to rush the growth of their relationship too much 
> 
> i honestly dont know how i feel about this chapter this much, so id love feedback!

**Author's Note:**

> Hoping to get a chance to write more. I have other stories I really should be working on and updating, but I'm doing this instead. Rip.   
> I'm really only on tumblr but: @energeticnerd is my main; @afangirlimagines is my writing blog


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